For my companions, my lights at sea
the ones who reflect and connect
te to my essence
My self

I saw a spider yesterday
dangling in the mist, suspended
by these threads of silk and
thought of you

Her exquisite home
I recognized, its simple shape
its firm, bright lines
I smiled because it looked like mine
an abstract sign, of you aligned
and moved me

I thought aloud, sometimes I do
and thought and thought
til I saw true
things I’d not considered
sense of self still unobserved
It was here in little spider’s lair
that first these chords were heard

A young man in America
can grow up proud and strong
too proud,
and strength takes discipline
to handle right and wrong
He can see only his center
and the road to truth is long

But as a man becomes himself and
learns the things he loves he can
identify those traits and values
learn from his new links
and forge a web to take its place
in sun and rain

To do this he must recognize what lies within
The mirrors we wear on our faces
show by our words and embraces
how the way we move through life
affects the other nodes
of this vast, delicate network structure
built across the earth of people
trying to get by each passing sun

From seeing this and leaping,
silk line gleaming out behind us
we connect each to the other
and then see if it can last
At length the bonds that stay are fixed
with love and deep sympatico, it sticks
synaptically, my soul to yours

In each, in all of you,
I see traces of the man I am
and was and wish to be.
The little glimpses that you gave me
of my soul
have made me think at length about
the shape my web will take
and the choices I will make

Ethan told me, when I implored
in my melancholy
“How can I live when love is shattered
gusts of circumstance have scattered
my home, my web is now in tatters
how can I go on?”

He said my friend, this need not be lamented
your home’s expanding now, extended
coast to coast and worldwide
Rejoice, for now the world is wide
with friends

Your web, he said
is made of sterner stuff than time and and space can rend
it’s been a while, and when you meet
no time has passed, but now you’ve grown
and seeing all the stories carry on
is love, it’s life, it’s all there is

In each of you there is a spark, a truth
that drew me to you, something new
I knew about the world because
you encountered me and showed me how to hearfeelthinkdreamsee

Because of you I stride the world
more open and renewed over
and over by this epic sense of wonder
And I move with surer purpose as
I write my lines upon the world
and build a web to stand the test of time

Together we can make this life
as rich as any, ever
and I don’t just mean in gold
for I can think of finer things
we’ve known along the way
With each adventure this web grows and deepens
and I’m listening
for the shimmering vibrations
coming back out from your strings